Maybe Obama should have pulled a Christie on infrastructure stimulus

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Cause it really hasn’t worked out so well, as The Economist outlines. The magazine criticisms are as follows:

First, and most important, a relatively small share of the bill was actually devoted to infrastructure. But even on the broadest definition of the term, infrastructure got $150 billion, under a fifth of the total. …Just $64 billion, or 8% of the total, went to roads, public transport, rail, bridges, aviation and wastewater systems.

Second, hopes for an immediate jolt of activity were misplaced. … By October 2009 even the fastest programs—those under the highway and transit headings—had seen work begin on just $14.3 billion-worth of projects.

Meanwhile the bill’s most notable project, high-speed passenger rail, threatens to become a debacle. … Freight companies worry that new passenger services will simply increase congestion. Any new rail service, meanwhile, is unlikely to be particularly fast. The Recovery Act dedicated $8 billion for high-speed trains, a sizeable sum but not enough for any train that is actually high-speed.

Me: OK, so the infrastructure plan wasn’t the greatest. Also, the tax “cut” portion of the plan was poorly structured. Is is any surprise that the US is looking at a continuation of the New Normal slow-growth, high unemployment scenario?

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James Pethokoukis is the Money & Politics columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. Previously, he was the business editor and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report. Pethokoukis has written for many publications including The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, Commentary, USA Today, and Investor's Business Daily. Pethokoukis is also an official CNBC contributor. In addition, he has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, The McLaughlin Group, CNN, and Nightly Business Report on PBS. A graduate of Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism, Pethokoukis is a 2002 Jeopardy! champion. james.pethokoukis@thomsonreuters.com